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"Outlook: partly cloudy" informs the forecast for Turner Field. Could get a lot worse if Max 'The Winless Wonder' Scherzer doesn't taste victory tonight - we call him that because we wonder whether he'll ever stop being winless... Tonight is his fourteenth start and, as previously documented, he's entering some lofty territory - tied for tenth already, in terms of starts since 1954 to open a career without victory.
And of all 323 pitchers to go thirteen starts without a W since then, Scherzer's ERA of 3.67 trails only nine men:
George Brunet: 13 games, 3.01, 1967-68
Ricky Clark, 13, 3.62, 1967-68
Jerry Koosman, 13, 3.42, 1978
Rick Mahler, 13, 2.67, 1988-89
Jay Bergmann, 13, 3.56, 2008
Doug Davis, 14, 3.65, 2005
Zach Greinke, 14, 3.65, 2004-05 Craig Swan, 15, 2.85, 1978
Tom Murphy, 16, 3.39, 1971-72
I highlighted a couple of names that might be of particular note - one by a current Diamondbacks hurler, and a fourteen-game winless streak by the man leading the AL, with an 0.60 ERA in his first eight starts Davis managed to lose only four of his 14 games, getting ten no-decisions, including one game where he left in the seventh, up by five. Be very nice if Scherzer could do two things he hasn't done before: not just get the win, but also record an out after the sixth inning.
Well, I was going to talk about the opposing pitcher, but the above took up far too much time, and if I delay this any longer, I'll be getting worried messages from 'Charmer. :-) So I'll just say Kawakmi is a) bound to suck, because I drafted him for my fantasy team, and b) bound to be brilliant, because he's currently sitting on the bench. So, whatever happens: I told you so.
Lineup
- Lopez 2B
- Parra CF
- Upton RF
- Drew SS
- Reynolds 3B
- Byrnes LF
- Tracy 1B
- Snyder C
- Scherzer P
Wouldn't surprise me if there's a rain-delay at some point, and not just the nine minutes or whatever it was last night. May be the Diamondbacks' and Scherzer's best hope of not losing, in fact. Especially if Parra continues his assault on opposing pitchers in the first inning...